Design and synthesis of novel indoline-(thio)urea hybrids

A series of novel indoline-(thio)urea were designed and prepared using indoline(s) as a new platform and tested as organocatalysts in the Michael and Morita?Baylis?Hillman reactions. Most of the compounds were found to be very active catalysts although they did not promote the enantioselectivity. As agents for the conversion of thiocarbonyl compounds into carbonyl compounds, potentials of PIFA and DDQ were also displayed. Furthermore, DFT calculations rationalized the experimentally observed non-enantioselectivity of the catalysts.